Last year, we launched UberUP — our Urban Partnership with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) — which helps us reach out to Marylanders left behind in the economic recovery.  UberUP aims to share the flexible economic opportunities and entrepreneurship that Uber’s technology provides.

But we knew that UberUP was just the beginning and we looked for more ways to engage with these communities. We’re excited to announce a new partnership with the Greater Baltimore Urban League to reach even more people in Baltimore, and let them know that driving with Uber means work that puts you first.

“After taking part in Uber’s Work On Demand event earlier this year, we decided to partner with Uber to reach even more people throughout Baltimore with the great economic opportunity that driving on the platform can provide. Uber’s technology offers entrepreneurship, flexible work hours, and empowerment to provide opportunities to generate income to support short and long term needs.”

— J. Howard Henderson, President/CEO, Greater Baltimore Urban League

Nearly 1/6 of our driver-partners from the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metropolitan area reside in areas that are considered Economically Distressed according to criteria developed by the Economic Innovation Group.*

Uber will be working with the Greater Baltimore Urban League to implement a recruiting initiative working to successfully recruit new driver-partners to drive with the Uber platform. The Urban League encourages you to use http://t.uber.com/gbul to sign up to drive. As part of this initiative, the Greater Baltimore Urban League will be hosting several recruiting events with Uber throughout the year, the first of which took place on June 16 at the Greater Baltimore Urban League headquarters.  

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On-demand apps like Uber help provide alternative solutions to economic challenges such as sluggish employment growth and stagnant household incomes. These challenges disportionately affect these communities and we believe partnership with great organizations like the Urban League can help make a difference not only in people’s’ lives but within the neighborhood as a whole.

Our goal is to share the opportunity for economic growth that partnering with Uber can provide folks who may be struggling to make ends meet.  We are confident and hopeful that this new initiative will help us positively impact the lives and incomes of residents in the greater Baltimore area.

*The *Distressed Communities Index (DCI) combines seven metrics using Census Bureau data to assess the economic well-being of communities across the United States. Scores range from 0 to 100. For this analysis, the number of driver-partners was totaled based on their listed zip codes. Zip codes with a DCI score of 80 or greater are considered “distressed” according to the DCI.